


No Harm, No Foul

by londoncorgis



Category: Kirby (Video Games), Kirby - All Media Types
Genre: Gijinka, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Revenge of Meta Knight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9467429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/londoncorgis/pseuds/londoncorgis
Summary: The knight sat still, staring off at nothing, thinking about the events that had just occurred. It was a messy, noisy blur. It hurt his head to try and remember specific details that weren’t explosions, shouting, and humiliating failure.A story about the events after Revenge of Meta Knight, and how it affected both Meta Knight and King Dedede.





	1. A Failed Invasion

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! this is... quite a big thing for me to take on, but i'm determined to keep up with it! this is somewhat based off of the works of RadiantSeraphina, whose fics are very wonderfully written and inspired me to write something of my own.

“Was it all for nothing?” That was Meta Knight’s only thought as his consciousness faded out from pure exhaustion. He lost his grasp on Sailor Dee and they both hit the water. Thank goodness Dee was a good swimmer, proven by the fact they were able to push their unresponsive captain to shore for who knows how long.

 

He woke up to a headache and the warmth of a campfire. Scratch the headache part, his whole body was in agony. Any attempt to sit up was in vain, and he could barely even turn his head to find where he was. Apparently Dee had heard his grunts of pain and stumbled over to help, though moving him wasn’t an option at the moment. They must have found some supplies that managed to survive the crash-- he could feel a blanket underneath him, but it didn’t provide much comfort-- and some food in the nearby forest. Their resourcefulness was one of their best qualities, Meta Knight had always said.

 

Soon enough, the captain of what used to be the Battleship Halberd managed-- with some help-- to sit up, and was being fed some kind of soup. After only a couple of bites, though, he strained to hold his hand up to stop the spoon. He wasn’t hungry. He felt sick.

 

“How long was I out?” The knight asked quietly, the first thing spoken this entire time.

 

Sailor Dee thought for a moment, before signing, “Around 3 hours.” He felt like he was asleep for weeks. A part of him wished that he’d never woke up.

 

“Have you seen the rest of the crew yet?” The Waddle Dee shook their head. “That’s fine. They can’t be too far off. Are you injured?” Another shake of the head, though this time they grabbed a nearby first-aid kit and gestured towards Meta Knight. He looked down at himself, seeing the source of his pain. His body, covered in just his undershirt and pants, was covered in a variety of wounds and gauze. It wasn’t pretty. A hand went to feel at his face, which had been awkwardly bandaged up too. The memory of Kirby managing to cut his mask in half while he’d still been wearing it caused him to wince.

 

Silence filled the air once more as Sailor Dee had to redress some of his injuries, blood already leaking through the cloth. The knight sat still, staring off at nothing, thinking about the events that had just occurred. It was a messy, noisy blur. It hurt his head to try and remember specific details that weren’t explosions, shouting, and humiliating failure.

 

The quiet was finally broken when Meta Knight forced a dry laugh and muttered, “Did I make a mistake, doing this?” Dee stared at him a moment before shrugging in response. Of course, he didn’t expect deep conversation with his mute crewmate, but he had to get it out somehow, and Dee was a good listener. Another of their best qualities. “I can’t help but think it was. I thought I was doing the right thing at first, really, but now I… I’m not sure anymore.”

 

He grunted in pain as alcohol was applied to one of his cuts. “I freaked out and I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking straight. But I was just… Just so _scared_. The things that have happened, I… His Majesty has been a good friend of mine for a long time, and I trust him well enough, but-- But he doesn’t always make the best decisions and I’m afraid he’ll become like--” He trailed off and shook his head. He hoped Dee couldn’t tell his eyes were beginning to water. The way they stared at him said that they definitely could, though.

 

“And… Kirby’s just a child. They’re strong, but I can’t… I can’t just expect them to be able to handle everything that comes to Dreamland, you know? Especially if something does happen with Dedede. I don’t want them to have to go through that. I did this because I was afraid. Am I in the wrong?”

 

Dee shrugged again, a look of concern in their eyes. Meta Knight looked down with another dry chuckle. “I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to tell me that. You all chose to follow me, and I’m thankful for that, but it’s really only my responsibility.” He frowned. The sailor packed up the first-aid kit and added a log to the fire. “Eventually I’ll have to face His Majesty again. I don’t want to, but I know I have to answer for what I’ve done. What will he say? I can’t imagine he’ll be very happy with me. I suppose I deserve that.”

 

There was an unexpected touch on his shoulder, and he jumped slightly, before realizing it was just Dee’s hand. Though they couldn’t do it through words, they wanted to comfort their lord in any way possible. He nodded and smiled. “Thank you, Sailor Dee. I appreciate it, I really do.”

 

The two watched the sunset in silence. Meta Knight eventually got himself to eat, before laying down and staring at the stars. The sun had just gone down for the night, when rustling could be heard from the forest, and Captain Vul, Axe Knight, and Mace Knight stumbled out. Their faces lit up upon seeing their captain, and they crowded around, Sailor Dee attempting to push them away to give him some air.

 

He enjoyed the company, though. It relaxed him.


	2. Bitter Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week after their failed invasion, the Meta-Knights are found by the royal guard and brought in to speak with the king.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> buckle up kids we're in for a bumpy ride

A gloom had been hanging over the castle ever since the incident. Thankfully, the rebellion had been stopped before it had reached the castle, and no damage had been done. Still, it wasn’t a secret. The townspeople had crowded around, murmuring and shouting their confusion. In no time, the news had reached Castle Dedede, and Kirby had gone off to fight while Dedede was left to watch and think.

Everyone around him noticed that the king hadn’t been acting like himself. He was quiet and irritable. The pink star warrior had tried to cheer him up, but he was too out of it to even give his usual insults.

It had been a week since then. King Dedede sat on his throne, chin in his hands and eyes locked on the door. He was like this ever since he sent soldiers out to find The Meta-Knights. At any other time, he would’ve heard the name and laughed, poking fun at his knight for naming his army after himself and even putting his mask on his ship. Under different circumstances, it would’ve been cute, but now it only gave Dedede a knot in his stomach.

Kirby hovered around the throne room, occasionally trying to strike up a conversation, only to be met with one-word answers, at most. They sat on one of the arms of the throne, partly taking advantage of the king’s unwillingness to argue, but also to provide him some company.

The large wooden doors swung open and the two sat up, both pairs of eyes widening as a group of Waddle Dee soldiers stepped in. The first of them bowed as Captain Waddle Doo greeted his highness. They stepped aside to allow for the others to lead their prisoners inside. Dedede’s breath hitched in his throat as he looked at Meta Knight, who only kept his head down. He glanced towards the other members of his crew, who were nervously darting their eyes between their captain and the king. Dedede leaned back in his throne. He had planned out everything he was going to say once he saw Meta Knight again, ran through it over and over in his mind, but now that he was actually looking at the other in person, it all went out the window.

“Your Majesty.” Meta Knight’s emotionless voice broke him out of his daze.

He felt the knight’s sharp, silver eyes cutting into him. The usual mask was nowhere to be seen, replaced by bandages and a blank stare. He looked a mess. Dents, scratches, and burn marks covered his armor, which had always been so well taken care of. What could be seen of his face under the gauze wasn’t much better. Dedede glanced to his side to see Kirby shuffling. Whatever happened to his face must’ve been their fault.

The room became painfully quiet, no one brave enough to speak. Eventually, the king cleared his throat and spoke, his voice missing its normally cheerful tone.

“Are you proud of yourself?”

Meta Knight didn’t respond.

“I know I don’t need to be tellin’ you how bad treason is. I don’t know why you--”

“You know why I did it.” Meta’s voice was still emotionless and cold as ice.

Dedede sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Meta Knight, I… I’m not arguin’ with you again. You know full well that I can’t let you get away with this.”

“Your Majesty--” The king broke eye contact. He found himself wishing Kirby hadn’t broken his mask. For once, he could see the emotion in Meta Knight’s face, and it hurt.

“I’m not gonna throw y’all in jail or anything, but… But I think it’d be best if you left the kingdom.”

The Halberd Crew gasped and murmured to themselves. They all looked toward their captain, who tried to step forward, only to be pulled back by the guards. “Your Majesty, you can’t--” His expression of shock faded to anger. “You can’t tell me I was in the wrong! I was only thinking of what’s best for the kingdom!”

“I am too, Meta Knight.” He heaved another sigh. This was a repeat of their fight before all this. “The townspeople are all scared of you now. I wanna trust you, I do, but I just… I can’t. You don’t have to agree with everything I’ve been doin’, but I can’t trust you to be here when you looked about ready to start a war with me.”

The room fell silent. Everyone’s attention was on the knight, though they weren’t sure if he could still be called that. The crew cast glances at each other, sometimes opening their mouths to speak and try to defend their lord, but no one actually did. Meta Knight only stared at Dedede.

“You… Your Majesty, I-I’m sorry, I just…”

“Meta, I said I’m not arguin’ with you anymore. Please, just…” His voice was low. “Just leave.”

Meta Knight remained speechless, before pushing his way out of the soldiers grip. “Get off me. I’ll go.” The others were released after, and he turned to lead his crew out.

“...Meta…?” Kirby’s worried voice stopped him dead in his tracks, but he didn’t even respond and just kept walking. Captain Vul marched after him, whispering something, then Axe and Mace Knight. Sailor Dee looked between Dedede and Kirby, before following along. The soldiers excused themselves and left as well, most likely to escort them out of the kingdom. The doors slammed shut and left King Dedede and Kirby alone again.

“Dede-poyo…? Is Meta gonna be allowed back soon?”

The king stood slowly. “I don’t know, Kirby. I don’t know.” He began to head out of the room, but not before punching the stone wall in anger.

The child gasped as he grunted in pain. “A-are you ok--”

“Fine. I’ll be in my room,” Dedede muttered, and disappeared down the halls.


	3. People Who Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Vul takes the rest of the Meta-Knights into his home, and they all recover from the recent events.

The journey out of Dreamland was mostly silent, save for a brave soul attempting to start small talk every so often. Meta Knight never spoke up, nor even looked at his crew members. They had been worried about him, offering to maybe help him walk or sit down for a while, though he insisted he was fine.

Soon enough, their leader had been nearly passing out from both soreness and exhaustion, and had to be carried the rest of the way by Axe and Mace Knight. Vul had offered to let them all stay at his house, and none of them had wanted to impose, but they had no other choice. “Don’t worry about it, ‘s the least I can do!” he had said, trying to cheer the group up.

His home was a small cottage just outside of Dreamland, somewhat close to Orange Ocean, in fact. None of the others had ever seen it, though Meta Knight had stayed a few times when the two were first constructing the Halberd. It wasn’t too special, but had enough space for the five of them, and was certainly full of his personality. What decor there was of note, was nautical themed, anchors and ropes and other symbols of a sailor. Dee was especially enthralled.

Meta Knight was laid on the couch as gently as possible, though he still winced with every movement. Sailor Dee ran over to help him out of his armor and check if any wounds had opened back up. He nodded off during the procedure, head snapping back up every time.

He jumped and recoiled when he felt a gloved hand on his forehead. Mace Knight stared intently at him as he felt his temperature. “You’re burning up, sir…” Dee reached up to feel as well, and made a noise of surprise and worry at how high his fever had to be.

“I’ve already told you, I’m fi--”

“With all due respect, Lord Meta Knight, none o’ us are feelin’ too well,” Captain Vul said as he hung his coat and hat up, “Don’t go actin’ all tough, now. Axe, I got some medicine on the kitchen counter. Would you go and get ‘em?”

Axe Knight nodded quickly, and did as told. Mace quickly followed after. “Do you mind if I use the kitchen? I think we could all use something to eat.”

“Go right ahead.” Vul sat himself down in a chair next to Meta Knight, watching as Sailor Dee tended to him. “Told ye we should’ve stopped at that nice village around Grape Gardens,” he laughed.

The captain was met with a silent glare. “I’m glad you’re getting some enjoyment out of this, at least.”

“Aye, sorry, sorry. Figured you could use a bit o’ cheerin’ up.” He smiled and Meta couldn’t help but offer one in return.

“Thank you, Vul. It means a lot to me that you’ve stayed with me through all of this, even letting me stay at your own home.”

“Don’t mention it. Yer my lord, after all. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I jus’ left ye alone.” He gently pat Meta on the back, before getting up to check on the food.

The house was soon filled with the smell of cooked fish, and the knight realized that he had barely eaten these past few days, and it was all catching up to him. They all sat together, eating some type of local fish and rice. It was extremely simple, but it may as well have been an extravagant meal to the soldiers. The dinner was mostly quiet, with the occasional small talk and light-hearted chuckles. The crew cleaned up, said good night, and went to the guest room to get a well-deserved rest, leaving the two captains in the living room.

“You sure ye don’t wanna take the bed? I don’t mind none, really.”

“I’m sure, Vul. You’ve already done so much for me, I can’t take your bed, too… Besides, I don’t think I can go up those stairs without falling,” Meta Knight laughed dryly.

Before the silence afterward could go on for too long, Vul spoke up quietly. “Are ye feelin’ alright, Sir?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Dee’s already taken care of me for the n--”

“No, I mean… Aren’t ye upset over this… This whole situation with the King?”

The knight stared at him and sighed. “Well, yes. To be honest with you, I was devastated, but I don’t want to show that in front of my men.”

“I doubt they’d mind.”

“I know, but… I don’t know,” he rubbed his face, “This whole thing is just so overwhelming and I’m having trouble processing it, myself.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Vul leaned back and stretched his arms. “Not to sound like some kinda therapist or yer mum or nothin’, but it’s fine to show emotions in front of us, Sir. Y’know we won’t judge you.”

“Thank you, Vul.” Meta Knight smiled, though it soon faded. “Do you… Do you think we’ll be let back in the kingdom?”

“Hey, now, ‘course we will. The two of you’ve been friends for years! It might take a while for the king to forgive ye, but I don’t think he’s the type of guy to stay mad. You didn’t do too much damage, after all.”

The knight didn’t fully believe him, but the words at least made him feel a little better. The other captain yawned a good night, and headed up to his room.

Did he really deserve this kindness from the people he endangered the most?


	4. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been several years since the incident, and Dedede thought he'd moved on. Kirby knew that he hadn't.

Dedede had counted the days since Meta Knight left Dreamland. The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and the months into years, and somewhere along the line he’d lost track. He knew it wasn’t healthy. He wasn’t the best at making healthy decisions, but it hurt too much to get stuck on it. Eventually, he did end up moving on and things went back to normal, but sometimes he’d look at the now empty room in the castle, or he’d see Kirby’s face when they’d have no one to spar with, and he’d remember that Meta Knight had been gone for almost six years, and it made his chest hurt.

Not to mention that now, of all times, the Dark Matter race had returned and only gotten stronger. The king remembered the pain on Meta’s face when he’d learned Dedede had been possessed by the awful creature, and how upset he was that he wasn’t there to stop it. He imagined how Meta would look if he learned that Dedede had, again, been possessed by Dark Matter not once, but twice in his absence.

Kirby and him had managed to defeat Zero twice, but just barely, even with help. He hated himself for thinking that the battles could have been easier with a battleship. He told himself over and over that it wasn’t true. The Halberd was big and menacing, and full of guns and all kinds of other machines, but it would never stand a chance against Zero. They were fine. They didn’t need Meta Knight back. He didn’t need Meta Knight back.

He felt like an idiot. Why was he having such internal turmoil over someone that stabbed him in the back? Dedede put his head in his hands as he sat in his throne. He heard small, light, bouncy footsteps come towards him, and he looked up only to be blinded by Kirby’s cheerfulness.

“What do you want, ya lil brat?” They both knew he didn’t mean that.

“I just wanted to check on you!! You seemed so down in the dumps today.” They crossed their arms and pouted. He thought about how happy Meta Knight would be to see how much they’d grown.

“It’s nothin’, I just… I’ve got a headache.”

Kirby got quiet, and plopped themselves on the arm of the throne. “Do you miss Meta, Dede-poyo?”

He breathed in sharply. “Nope,” he forced a casual tone, “Of course not. Why would I miss that traitor?”

“I dunno,” they shrugged, “I miss him.”

“Yeah, ‘course you do. You’re too forgivin’ of bad guys.”

The child gasped and got in Dedede’s face. “Hey! Meta’s no bad guy, poyo! He would never hurt anyone!” They never got rid of that ‘poyo’-thing. It made it really hard to take them seriously.

“Tried to hurt you.”

Kirby paused. “Yeah… Yeah, but…!” They frowned. “But Meta wasn’t feeling too good. He didn’t want to hurt me. He was scared.”

Scared. Dedede felt a pang in his heart. Meta Knight was scared of him. Afraid that he’d become like Nightmare. He didn’t want to admit it, but he couldn’t blame him. Dedede wasn’t perfect, he knew that. Hell, everyone knew that, at this point. But Kirby saw the best in everyone. Kirby believed that the king was a good person, and so did Meta.

“Dede-poyo.”

“What.”

“What Meta did was bad. But… But he’s not bad. We met a lot of bad people. Meta’s not like them.” Kirby didn’t show it, but the king could tell how shaken they were because of Zero. He felt sorry for them. “Meta is good, but he made a mistake. You did, too.”

“...Maybe.” Dedede sighed. He hated being lectured by a child, and it was only made worse because they were right.

“I think we should let Meta and his friends back in. He’s probably homesick. Plus, he can help keep away the real bad guys, poyo!”

The king looked down, thought for a moment, and looked back up at Kirby. “Yeah. I mean, I guess. I’ll have to think ‘bout it.” Dedede feigned apathy, like he didn’t actually care for Meta’s company or anything. Definitely not.

Kirby saw straight through it. “Yay!!” Without warning, they hugged the king tight.

“Alright, alright, calm down, runt,” Dedede managed to push the child off him, though they still danced in place. “Don’t get your hopes up. I gotta decide what’s best for the kingdom. It’ll take a while.”

He’d actually already made decision, but there was a issue of both finding the guy and worrying if he even wanted to come back.


End file.
